“Community” Gets Renewed

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Late Friday, Variety reported that NBC has renewed Community for a fifth season. That’s pretty much all the news there is about it; it could be one last order to get some more episodes in the can for syndication and VOD, or another chance to break out of the Nielsen dungeon, or one step closer to #sixseasonsandamovie, but there’ll be more from Greendale, whatever the reason.

Are you excited? How did you like the post-Dan Harmon Season 4? Your thoughts in the comments section, please.

Comments

I was fine with season 4. Yes, the tone and aesthetics were different. I liked how someone described it as a cartoon version of itself. I love the characters and I don’t recall any of the characters not acting like themselves. If you took those characters and actors and made shows for each timeline, I’d watch it all. Honestly, if you actually loved the show before then I don’t see how you could be vitriolic about it now.

The biggest issue with this season is a fundamental misunderstanding of the characters of the show. Instead of doing anything really daring or interesting with the characters, were given multiple groan worthy rehashing of older plots, or quotes/events that were originally taken with high praise. I feel it’s very confusing for the writers to start the season basically telling the audience “This is a new Community” but then deciding to constantly barrage us with old Community. Aside from that none of the plot lines they introduced really went anywhere, and felt seriously forced. Characters that I use to like, like Abed, are now annoying and taxing. I have to agree also with a previous commenter that there is a sad lack of genuine humor from the show this season. Moments that are not just a reference or a play on some pop-culture thing that, to be honest this season was way more obvious and shoddily done than previous season. I don’t need Abed to tell me they’re doing Shawshank, I get it. Even if I didn’t, don’t talk down to your audience.

Honestly I just feel sad with the renewal news mainly due to I just don’t want to see a show that use to be so good and one of my favorites just turn into another mediocre, played out show that doesn’t when to quit.

I really enjoyed this season ,but I don’t know if an other one will work .The last episode seemed a bit of a sign off ,and I think it should end there .But just like with every good thing ,TV producers must push the issue ,make money ,until the show is terrible .Case in point ….The Office . But I will watch Community ….well until I get sick of it .

Why is everyone so jaded, it’s a good show about nerdy things that isn’t generic lazy bullshit like The Big Bang Theory. This season for me was just as good as the rest it’s a great sitcom, very well written, very well acted and it’s still on air and on a major network. I love Dan Harmon too but the show is different now and Dan has moved on to other tv projects.

This season was not the best but it wasn’t bad at all. Still much better than the Big Bang Theory anyway. Some episodes were as good as any episode from any season. Anyone that didn’t like the forth season is a dick that didn’t really liked the show on the first place. There I said it Andrew. 😉

Hey, Ralph and Evil Abed, maybe don’t go around telling people how they do and don’t feel?

It’s incredibly dismissive to tell someone like me, someone who loved the first three seasons, who felt an extremely personal connection to what Dan Harmon was doing with his show, and who felt that the last season was at best a pale imitation of that, and at worst a cynical bit of fan service, that they didn’t really love the show.

Hey, Ralph and Evil Abed, maybe don’t go around telling people how they do and don’t feel?

It’s incredibly dismissive and dickish to tell someone like me, someone who loved the first three seasons, who felt an extremely personal connection to what Dan Harmon was doing with his show, and who felt that the last season was at best a pale imitation of that, and at worst a cynical bit of fan service, that they didn’t really love the show.

I don’t know if we’d have this season or this new one if NBC weren’t constantly dropping the ball, say what anyone will about harmon or chase, the drama has been NBC lack of any attempt to build an audience, and when they have a show with one, they ignore it and mistreat it until it’s the only horse in their stable still moving, even if it’s just a limp.

I think there needs to be a stronger emphasis on comedy on the show. I feel that with this season they have sort of leaned a bit too hard on the elaborate fantasy aspects and all the meta stuff, while kind of leaving the comedy as an afterthought. I always thought that before no matter how over the top everything would get, stuff was always WAY funny. Would love to see more of Troy crying because his grandma is spanking Britta kinds of things. The “love interest” thing between characters concerns me a bit as well.

I think Ganz did a great job on the finale considering the circumstances. And I don’t wanna be too negative about all this stuff because I know the show has gone through a lot and that loosing Harmon was a whole deal and that everyone is likely working their tails off to make this stuff happen. But at the same time I feel like the lowest points of this season were sort of the worst the show has ever been. I personally found the puppet/musical episode unwatchable.

I think that like all fans I want the show to be good and succeed and to have it for a long time. But I also worry we are stepping into dangerous territory with this whole NBC thing, cause the first 3 seasons of the office: literally some of the best/funniest TV ever made, now that show is one hot mess. It would be really sad if that happened to Community as well.

I’m happy for everyone involved, but with the exception of the Jim Rash-written episode this season has been pretty awful.

Now that Harmon isn’t around you can really feel the lack of investment and polish from the writers. They’ve even copped to it a few times in interviews, mentioning how quickly they managed to bang out this season in contrast to when Harmon ran the show, and had them doing rewrites right up until shooting an actual scene.

Season 4 is testament to how far a show can fall when it loses its guiding intelligence. If they’re going to do a season 5 at the very least they need a new showrunner.

I feel good about this. The last season has been uneven and for the most part not that great, but I really think the new showrunners just need time to settle down into their format. 13 episodes is not enough to do that, and I believe that this season can make Community as great as it once was. Not the same kind of great, but still great.

I felt that the episodes have been have been getting better throughout the season (as in going from me watching them stone faced to me actually laughing out loud at a few of the bits) and the finale left me wanting more, in a good way.

I think that there is definitely potential for the 5th season to have some quality episodes in it.

So so happy! I admit that season 4 took some getting used to, post Harmon, but it grew on me because I allowed it to. I got over the Harmon departure, and I accepted that Chevy Chase wouldn’t be there, and I moved on. The characters still amused me, the plots were inventive, and well–there always has to be a third thing to create harmony– so I’ll say that it was refreshing to see a vulnerable side to Jeff. I’m not sure I like all the sugary stuff he was made to say at the end because I don’t like clean wrap-ups, With another season, though, the writers will get a chance to come into their own, and I look forward to seeing what results from that!!!!!

PS: To the ratings counters: People don’t watch nearly as much live tv as they used to, me included. This is no longer an accurate way to measure a show’s popularity. Think of some other way to do so.

Also agree about the unevenness of this season. The first several episodes were average about best. But the last 3 episodes of this season, body switching, origin stories, and the finale was Community at some of its greatest. Hopefully with another season the writers can find their own voice and pace.

I worry more about the writers such as Megan Ganz and other Harmon era talents who were still onboard for season 4 who have since moved on to other shows during renewal limbo. I am glad the show will have more time to find a new direction. Nostalgia is not enough to save the show no matter how excellent the ensemble cast and meta jokes.

What is amazing about this show is that it goes so far to either side of the spectrum because it takes RISKS. It is a comedy writers workshop playing out on a national network. Good or bad, it is the only scripted show on NBC in a while that people discuss with other fans. I hope season five returns to character arcs as well as experimental episodes. As Troy once said “Abed, we need to be weird!”

I don’t know how I feel about this.. While it’s great that a show so unique and cool is on the air still, this also shows that NBC thinks it’s totally fine to fire the show runner and replace him with a new writing staff… I felt like all of season 4 wasn’t to par with seasons 1-3, but certainly not bad.

I was sad that yesterday I realised the finale was on and I didn’t care. I was such a huge fan, and this series just rarely made me laugh. And I even had a few frustrated sigh noises, like “arrrgbleh”, or “uuuuhk”.

Still this is just one persons opinion. I love the show and the actors and would love to see it redeem itself. Won’t be rushing to see it now though. Misses Harmon, some of the old writers and a few better directors (Russos).

The thing that really bummed me out is that Mulaney would have probably been picked up if it weren’t for this.
I quit watching the 4th season of Community a few episodes in. Not because it was bad, but because I couldn’t even make up my mind when all I was thinking about is Dan Harmon.

It has been different, that’s for certain. And I would call it uneven rather than mediocre. I would’ve been fine with cancellation after this year, but I’m looking forward to a fifth season to see if these writers can figure it all out.